


Singularity Transfer: RE

by Nornfang



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 14:24:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17789063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nornfang/pseuds/Nornfang
Summary: After the Matt Webster is forcefully sent through time, he wakes up in a strange city with no memories. It matches no exact time period and things like magic seem to exist. Just where exactly is he? What will be of him in this new world? Only time will tell.





	Singularity Transfer: RE

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually a reboot of my existing work by the same name. I will make significant changes to it to improve the story as a whole.

Prologue

 

          I’m in the lounge room in the Atomic Transportation Research Organization (ATRO for short). There are a couple of sofas, a mini fridge, a television, and a couple of tables. Typically I’m not someone who you would catch drinking coffee, but I’m very tired today. Instead of going to sleep on time and waking up in the morning, I spent all night watching anime. In fact, I’m doing that right now, too. The scent of the coffee fills the room and its warmth fills spreads through my body.

         “The presentation will begin shortly. Please report to the theater if you are attending.”

          The PA system, which is unnecessarily loud, goes off and nearly makes me spill my coffee. I check my identification card just in case I did manage to make a mess. It’s plastic, so it wouldn’t really be hard to wash off. 

Matthew Webster

DOB: 8/26/2037

Sex: Male

         On the left side is an image of me. My family is a mix of Japanese and Korean, so my appearance isn’t very unique. I have messy black hair, boring dark brown eyes, and slightly pale skin. Reading the Date of Birth reminds me that my seventeenth birthday is in a couple of days. I wonder what I’ll get for gifts…

           I suppose Hasu, my childhood friend and also my crush, will get me a game that we could play together. And my father, John “Titor” Webster, will probably just give me some additional funds for my wallet. He gets his nickname from his enthusiasm for time travel research. While he does the hard stuff, I get to sit around and do nothing. My job is basic maintenance. I make sure everything is clean and functioning. If there’s a problem, I report it to the other staff. Really, it’s just an excuse to let me be in the same building as my father.

          Speaking of my father’s research, he developed a supposedly functional prototype that’s being demonstrated… in a few minutes. Being the son of the man who made it possible, I was asked to be present on the stage. Actually, I should get going or I’ll be late. I turn off my tablet which I watch my shows on and head to the theater.

         The presentation began several minutes after I arrived on the scene. I have to look decent on stage, so I’m wearing a casual gray sweatshirt over my shirt which has a clothing brand logo on it. Also, I’m wearing black sweatpants and white sneakers. I had to make sure that my clothes weren’t saggy so that I look respectable instead of like the shut-in anime viewer that I am. 

         “This is the result of decades of research,” my father speaks proudly.

         He stands in front of the machine which he constructed. It resembles a large, metal capsule with some tesla coil-like things at the top. The door slides open via a handle and there’s room for about two or three people on the inside. Only the contents of the machine, not the machine itself, are meant to be transported so it opens only from the outside. Naturally, we won’t be sending anyone through yet. Instead, we’re going to send a time capsule to some years into the future. Inside the time capsule are a handwritten letter and some personal items. The capsule itself it’s a metal box with a passcode lock.

          “This could not be done if not for the contributions of hundreds of scientists around the world, not only from the present day but from the past as well!”

          He gestures for me to prepare the machine. We’ve gone over this several times in practice, so I know what to do. It’s merely a matter of setting a couple dials, pressing some buttons, and flipping some switches in a specific order. 

          “Now, it’s a very complicated process, so I will explain it briefly. It works by turning an entire object into separate atoms and sending them to a specific period of time before the atoms bond together again and reconstruct the object! I shall demonstrate it now!” 

         He places the time capsule at the bottom of the device. Then things suddenly take a turn for the worst. Boom! An explosive device detonates from the room of the theater and creates a gaping hole. Pieces of the roof fall down into the audience, but no one is significantly injured from it. Of course, they begin to panic and flee from their seats and go to the sides of the room. 

          Armed men pour in from the hole in the roof via ropes. Their outfits, I recognize them. It’s the Global Unification Society (G.U.S.), a terrorist organization and a secret society that wants to establish a single world superpower. I’m guessing their motive is to destroy the time machine, which may prove to be a danger to their “peace.” I won’t let them take away something precious from me… Not again… 

          “Nobody move! We don’t want to hurt anyone!” One of them shouts while aiming his rifle around. 

         More of them come in from the main entrance and from the side entrance beside the stage. We’re trapped in. There’s a moment of panic and shouting as the G.U.S soldiers enter. As people realize there’s no gunfire, everyone settles down considering the circumstances. 

          “Alright, we got orders! Take out the guys on the stage! We can’t let them get away!”

          Before I can react, my father swiftly grabs me and pushes me into the machine. As he does this, one man shoots at us. The bullet enters my left shin and exits on the opposite side. The sharp pain causes me to shout out loud in pain. He slams to door shut on me so that I can’t get out. I hear more gunshots over the sound of footsteps heading for the exit behind the stage. I can also tell that the machine was activated by the buzzing of electricity that seems to be coming from all directions. I slowly lose consciousness as my vision turns to nothing but white. 

 

Chapter 1, “Who, Where, What?”

 

         When I finally regain my consciousness from my sleep, I feel oddly uncomfortable. My bed isn’t usually that bad, but it feels suddenly like it’s lower quality. To specify, it just feels like a bunch of padding instead of the typical springiness of a mattress. My blanket seems to be made of a thinner sort of cloth made of organic fiber instead of synthetic. I can’t sleep any longer, so I open my eyes.

         Standing around me, from my left to my front, and to my right, are three middle-aged women who are wearing some sort of outdated uniform. By outdated, I mean by a few centuries. It resembles a nun outfit. 

         “Huh? What’s with the cosplay,” I ask them (Cosplay is basically a fancy term for costumes). 

         I was going to ask them why the hell they’re in my room, but my half-asleep brain failed to function for a moment. 

         “Cosplay,” one of them repeats, tilting her head like she doesn’t understand. 

         “The costumes! What’s with the costumes? It’s not even close to October…”

         “These are just our uniforms. We’re nurses,” the one to my left says with a gentle tone. 

         I take a second to examine the room around me. It actually looks pretty old. It’s definitely past colonial (like in New England), but it’s not exactly modern. If I were to describe it in a way that most people could understand, it looks kind of like something out of The Ancient Scrolls in a more orderly and wealthy city. 

         “So, this must be a hospital then,” I say, still confused as to why I’m not in a more modern hospital. Maybe this one has a theme or something. 

         “Yes, you could call it that,” the woman on my right says. 

         “Well, I feel fine right now and I don’t remember getting injured. Is it okay if I leave?”

         “No, you mustn’t!” The nurse on the left seems panicked. She waves her hands violently signaling to me that I can’t. “You were only brought in yesterday! As for your memory, it’s likely the trauma of your injury!” 

         I try to remember what I was doing before my injury. I should remember that at least, right? Well, apparently not. In fact, I can’t recall at all what I was doing yesterday or any day before. 

         “Damn… Must’ve hit my head, too…”

         “What makes you think that?” one of them asks. 

         “Well, I can't remember a damn thing,”  say as I scratch the right side of my head.

         “But we checked you over! You should be fine by now!” 

         The nurse on my left panics again. She seems young, maybe in her twenties. Her inexperience is quite obvious. 

         “Calm down, girl,” the nurse on the right finally speaks while the middle one checks my head for injuries. “Maybe that box can tell us where he’s from. If not, we’ll have to ask the girl where she found him.” 

         “A girl brought me in…?”

         Now I’m curious. Is she my age (I think I’m about seventeen, but I can’t remember)? Is she cute? 

         “...” The nurses’ expressions look as if they said something that they shouldn’t have. 

         The right one begins to speak after a moment of hesitation. “We heard someone shouting for our attention yesterday. When we came over, you were already on the bed and we only caught a glimpse of her. It’d be really difficult to find her…”

         I feel like they’re lying, but… 

         “I guess she was busy or something… How long should I stay in bed?”

         The nurse in the middle pulls her hand back and tells the others that there seems to be nothing wrong, at least physically. They whisper to each other for a moment before replying. 

         “You’ll be fine by tomorrow,” the one on the right says. “The only problem will be your memory.” 

         “What sort of injury is bad enough to make me go into a hospital but heals in two days of rest?” 

         “You had a hole in your leg that went straight through, but it wasn’t anything that magic can’t fix!”

         “Magic?” I suddenly feel like I was unwillingly dragged into some sort of drama or role-playing group. That doesn’t explain how I lost my memory, though.

         “Guess you’re one of those people who hasn’t heard of magic,” she sighs after finishing her sentence. “You aren’t a farmer, so maybe it’s from the memory loss…” 

         “Right…” Well, if this really is some silly drama group, I’m not gonna get anywhere by asking them about magic. I seriously need help with my strange case of amnesia. “You know that I’m not a farmer, so you’ve seen me somewhere before?”

         “You’re the one who-.” The nurse on the left attempts to speak, but the one of the right rushes over and covers her mouth with her hand. 

         “None of us have seen you before,” she says while she seems to sweat a little. “It’s just that you don’t look like one, especially with that fancy box you have over there.”

         She looks over to my left, so I follow her gaze. There on the table beside me, I see a metal box with a passcode lock. The top of the box has a logo resembling the structure of an atom and is labeled, WEBSTER. The name sounds familiar, but I don’t know who it belongs to. I then remember what the other nurse was about to say. 

         “I’m the one who did what?”

         Her eyes widen for a moment before she replies with a rushed tone.

         “Oh, sorry! I believe I mistook you for someone else!”

         “I see…” I can still remember my face. It’s not unique of someone of my ethnicity, so I’m not surprised. 

         The nurse in the middle smiles at me briefly before taking the hand of the nurse on the left and escorting away. She comes back with a wooden cart with a couple rows of books on its shelves. The wheels spin nearly silently, but the cart shows sign of age. 

         “While you recover, please entertain yourself from our selection of books,” she says to me kindly. 

         “Uh… Thanks…” 

         I take a book off the shelf and try to read the cover. It’s written in strange symbols that I’ve never seen before. They resemble English characters, but they’re definitely not. They’re not Russian, Japanese, or from any country that I know of. I flip through the pages and scan them. They’re consistently written in these symbols.

         “I can’t read this…” 

         “Probably just the amnesia. All we can do is hope it comes back to you,” the left nurse says. 

         “No, it’s not that. I can read English just fine, but… Which language is this?”

         “English? That sounds familiar… Anyway, that’s all Unmish. The national language.” 

         “Un...mish…?” I search through what remains of my memory but find nothing. “Which country are we in?” 

         “Unmei! You’re lucky to be in the capital kingdom of Heiwa! It doesn’t get much better than this place! Come on, any of this ringing a bell?” 

         “I’m sure that I’ve never heard of any country called ‘Unmei,’ or any city called ‘Heiwa.’”

         “Well, maybe you’ll remember something with a full stomach. Wait here and we’ll bring you dinner.” 

         “Okay.” 

         On the plate are various vegetables, some sort of fish, and some bread. There is also a glass of water with it. I can tell that everything was fresh. It’s possible that this place is supplied from local farms. There must be a lake or something nearby for this fish. After I finish my meal, I decide to sleep because I can’t actually read the books that I was given. 

         It’s morning now. Someone opened the curtain behind me and now the sunlight glows on my face. It prevents me from sleeping, so I sit up. 

         “Oh, here is your breakfast,” the clumsy nurse from yesterday speaks while she hands me another plate. For breakfast, it’s bread, fruits, and some more water. I finish it in a few minutes. 

         “So, I should be all set, right?” I ask her. It seems that the other nurses aren't on shift right now.

          I check my lower left leg as I speak and see that there really is a hole on both sides as if something went straight through. I wonder what could’ve caused it. If this is some drama group, why would they so as far as to make a hole in my own pants? Did I agree to it before I was unconscious? 

         “Yes,” she replies. “Please be careful out there. Oh, and take this. It’s yours.”

         She hands me the metal box that was placed on the table to the side. It’s about the size of a shoebox and is surprisingly not too heavy. I stand up to take it. My previously injured leg feels a little sore, but it’s not unbearable.

         “Thank you. Say, do is there a bill I have to pay?” 

         “Typically, we do, but you’re a special case.” 

         I get the feeling that she just let something slip.

         “How so?”

          If I question her about it while the other nurses aren’t around, maybe she’ll spill the beans on it. She hesitates for a moment.

         “Oh! It’s because of your amnesia! You cannot remember your identity or occupation, so we won’t charge you!” 

         “A wound to the leg might not be fatal, but you sure saved me a lot of trouble. Thanks!”

         “Please come back if you need to!”

         “Yeah, I will. I hope I see you again one day.” 

         I’m in front of the door now. I take a quick glance at the nurse again. She’s smiling brightly. For some reason, it makes my heart feel pained. I could have sworn that I’ve seen someone smile even brighter than her. Someone that I have known for a long time, but I no longer remember. 

         I take a deep breath before opening the wooden door in front of me. I should go to a real hospital after this and have them check my head. My hand instinctively opens the door. 

         Immediately, the blinding sunlight fills my eyes and my nose is filled with foreign smells. Lingering in the fresh air is the scent of fresh food. I can hear the voices of tons of people as they walk by. It’s a warm day, I think. 

         As my eyes begin to focus, I can make out the shapes of people and buildings. There are vendors along the street, mostly selling fresh food. Everyone is wearing strange clothes that I’ve never seen before. They look like they’re from somewhere between the fourteenth and eighteenth century. The buildings, too, look outdated. I can tell that despite their look, some of them have only been around for several decades. To be specific, they resemble something from Germany or some other European nation during the eighteenth century. It actually looks like a nice city. 

         “Just… where the hell am I?” 

         I find a map on the stone road drifting through a small breeze. I still can’t read it, but I can match the symbols on the map to those of the street signs and shop signs. There are icons on the map that will help me navigate the city. There’s one icon by the entrance of the city that has a strange sword and shield icon and another in the center. I’m very curious. I’m closer to the one in the center, I think, so I’ll head there. 

         As I walk with a map in one hand and the metal box under my opposite arm, I feel the gazes of the people surrounding me. They’re not just friendly, quick glances, they are stares of perplexing and curiosity. The people also whisper to each other as I walk. At first, I thought they were afraid of me, but they don’t seem to be frightened or hostile. This doesn’t stop, even after I reach my destination. 

         This building is especially large, but I can see an even larger building in the very center of the city. This entire area is covered with buildings much larger than those further away. The map icon shows a crown in the very center, but the actual building looks like a castle. Perhaps it’s some sort of tourist attraction. 

         Clack, clack, clack, clack… A man approaches me from my right. He’s wearing a set of metal armor. It covers most of his body, but some areas are exposed. It’s probably so that it’s easier to put on and take off. His helmet doesn’t cover his face. I stare at him in confusion. 

         “Excuse me, Sir,” he says with an alerted tone. 

         “Me?” I point at myself. 

         “Yes, you. You should not dress like that. It may confuse people…”

         “These are just my normal clothes. I didn’t have any bad intentions when I put them on, I think.” 

         I say “I think” because I don’t actually remember putting on these clothes. They’re mine, for sure, but my memory is still gone. 

         The man stares at me for a good few seconds. Stare actually isn’t a good word, I would say that he is observing me. He notices the box I’m holding. 

         “Ah! I think I see how it is,” his tone changes and now it seems that he has some sort of interest in what I’m doing. “Are you here for a delivery? Are you going to visit the royal court?” 

         “Uhh… No, I don’t have that high of a status…” He mentioned a royal court, so I’m guessing the crown icon is the King’s castle. Is this entire city a tourist attraction?! It’s clearly not time travel because the era’s don’t match at all! Maybe I was transported to another world?

         “The truth is,” I continue, “I have no money and I don’t have anywhere to go…” 

         “Ah-!” The man seems to be completely surprised. “I- I’m afraid I can’t help you financially, but I know of somewhere you can rest for the night. Actually, you might find an opportunity to put some change in your pocket.” 

         “That doesn’t sound legal!” 

         “Oh, don’t worry about that! I am a guard! I naturally would not recommend that you indulge in illegal activities. Here, show me your map.”

         I do so and he points at the swords and shield icon closer to the entrance of the city. 

         “This is the city’s guild. They may not offer you anything comfortable, but you’ll be safe and relatively warm. Of course, you’ll have to prove that you’re of use to them, but I doubt that will be an issue for you.” 

         “This really sounds sketchy, but thanks. I’ll get going now.”

         “Stay safe,” he shouts to me as a walk away. 

         Once again, I heard something strange come out of the mouth of a stranger. “I doubt that will be an issue for you,” is what he said. It seems like the people of this city know of me in somewhat, but don’t want me to know. I could be overthinking, he could’ve just saw me and thought that I was a capable person, but I can’t deny this strange feeling. 

         All I want right now is to go home, wherever that is, but I can’t even remember that. If I could just find out where I am and who I am, I could contact the authorities and have them help me. However, if the authorities in this foreign country called “Unmei” are all like that guard, then God help me. 

         I pass by the hospital again. The stares of stranger still fix on me. However, there’s one exception. After I pass the hospital, I see a girl who sticks out among everyone else. 

         The girl seems to be about my age. She’s wearing a white dress that seems to be especially expensive. Her eyes are the color of the ocean, and her hair is white like snow. Her proportions are pretty good, and her skin color is slightly pale. As she walks, she smiles gently and has her hands folded behind her back. 

         I thought she was staring at me, but she kept staring forward as we passed each other. I’m not sure, but I think I heard a little laugh come from her just after she passed me. And then the people around us begin to whisper more than earlier. She must be important, or maybe just famous, so I won’t even attempt to speak to her. It’s a shame because she’s incredibly cute and I don’t think I would ever have the opportunity to talk to her, at least not as a friend. I sigh and try to forget about it.

         By the time I finally reach the Guild, it’s almost noon. It’s a large building with two floors. 

         Running out of the door is a young girl, no more than a year older than I am. Her brown hair is tied back in a ponytail. It waves behind her like the tentacles on a jellyfish. I notice that in her left hand is a wooden bow and that she has an arrow-filled quiver on her back. 

         “Get out the of the way!” she shouts as she shoves me to the side. 

         I nearly drop the box as I stagger. With that girl gone, I carefully walk inside the building. 

         I’m greeted by a woman sitting behind a desk. She’s wearing some sort of uniform. 

         “How may I help you, Sir?”

         “I was told I could be given a place to stay here.” My voice is filled with shame. 

         “Then you came to the right place!”

         A large hand is placed on my shoulder. I look behind me to see a middle-aged man with a large build smiling down at me. His hair is black but seems to be starting to gray. The hair that covers his face is grown out slightly, but well trimmed. He seems overly friendly for his appearance. 

         “What kind of work would I need to do to earn it?” I ask him. 

         “Well…” He gives me a good stare before continuing to speak. “You look plenty capable, so I’ll give ya a room for free.” 

         “This is the Guild, right? I don’t think it would be fair to others if I was given a room without working.”

         “Well, you need somewhere safe to keep that box, don’t ya? What’re you gonna do? Work with one hand?”

         “Good point, but do you expect me to buy food without working?! I have no money!” 

         “Well, tenants are guaranteed as many leftovers as they want for snacks…”  

         “Hey! Doesn’t that imply that I’ll be paying rent?!” 

         “If you’re gonna be so damn persistent then I’ll let ya take a room and work part-time here. You ain’t ready for quests yet.” 

         “Quests?” What is this, a role-playing game?!

         “I suppose you could sweep up every now and then. The place gets dirty real fast.” The old man completely dodges the question. 

         I sigh and say, “I’ll take that offer. It’s better than manual labor…”

         “Here, take this,” the old man says as he hands me a key. There’s a tag on it with a symbol that I can’t read. 

         “What does this say?”

         “When you go upstairs, match it with the number on the door. You’ll see it.”

         “Got it.”

         There’s a doorway on both sides of the deck. The old man didn’t say anything about it, so they probably go to the same room. I decide to take the left door. 

         It turns out that I was right. Behind the doorways is a large room with many wooden tables in several rows. Most of them are filled up with men in armor and women in robes of some sort. Some of them have swords, and some of them have staffs with gems on the top of them. They’re all cheerfully conversing, and even yelling. The moral seems to be high. On the side seems to be a bar, and on the opposite side, there is a board on the wall with a myriad of papers tacked on to it. There a few several waitresses going around serving food.

         I take a moment to examine the people. I think I noticed this outside, too, but now I’m not walking. Some of the people have inhuman features such as ears, tails, scales, or fur. One woman’s tail and cat-like ears seem to be moving as she talks. Confused, I decide to approach her and ask about it. 

         “Excuse me, Miss?” 

         She turns around and smiles at me.

         “Do you need something?” 

         “Well… your tail and ears, those aren’t real, are they?”

         “Never seen a demihuman, huh?” When she says demihuman, I can’t help but think I asked something insensitive. “Would you like to touch them?” 

         “Uh… I- I’ll pass,” I stutter. Now I feel like she asked me to do something indecent. I guess those features are real… This is all a dream, right? I’ll wake up if I take a nap in my room, right?! 

         I find the stairs and head up to the second floor. Passing me is a woman with short, golden hair and green eyes. Instead of wearing robes like most of the women downstairs, she is wearing armor. It looks similar to that of the guard I met earlier, but it appears to be heavier and it covers more areas. She seems to be older than I am by a few years. 

         “I have yet to see you here before,” she says with a calm, mature tone. “How experienced are you?” 

         “Actually, I’m just working here part-time. The old man that runs the place is letting me stay for now.” 

         “Ah, that is a shame. You are meant to accomplish great things. You should not change your fate by working as a part-timer.”

         “How can you tell? I don’t think I stand out or anything…” 

         “It is,” she pauses for a couple seconds, “a knight’s intuition.”

         The woman who I now know to be a knight continues to walk down the stairs. Most of the other guildsmen didn’t have armor quite like hers, so maybe she’s a knight of the King’s army. Oh, what the hell am I doing putting pieces together in a world that is seemingly fake? 

         Realizing that I’m being ridiculous, I decide to hunt down my room and go inside. It takes a few minutes because there are two hallways, each with a pair of rooms on the left and right. 

         It’s relatively small, but not too small for me. There’s a closet, a drawer set, a table with two chairs, and a bed. On the back wall in the center is a peculiarity lightbulb. Gently, I place the metal box on the table. I really wish I had a TV, a computer, and a gaming console. That reminds me, I think I have my phone in my pocket. 

         I reach into my pocket and grab it, then bring it in front of my face. The screen is cracked… Well, maybe it’ll still turn on…?

          I was wrong. The thing is completely busted! 

         “Dammit!” I curse to myself and throw myself into the bed. I sigh and close my eyes. The mattress seems to be filled with cotton, not supported by springs. This feels too real to be a dream… Will I wake up if I open my eyes again? I wonder-

         “Hey! Part-timer! You seemed pretty set on workin’! You gonna start or what?!” The old man shouts from the other side of the door. 

         “I’ll be down in a minute!”

         “Fine! I’ll be waitin’ for ya!” His heavy footsteps fade as he walks away.

         Before I head down, I stand up beside the table and stare at the box labeled Webster. I press four buttons before it flashes red and aggressively buzzes at me. So it’s a four-digit code, at least I know that now… 

         I reluctantly open the door, lock it behind me, the head downstairs. I was very enthusiastic to work, but I don’t know how much I’ll be able to make just by acting as a janitor every day. 

         “Here, take this and get goin’.” The old man hands me a wooden broom. I take it and do as I’m told. 

         Just who exactly was cleaning the place before I got here? The Waitresses? Did the old man make them do it? Well, I expect to see whoever it was to still be around and for them to help me after the place closes. 

         After sweeping around for a while, I find a paper on the floor. There are many people going around so I guess someone must’ve dropped it. I turn it over and try to read it, but I’ve already forgotten that this city doesn’t write in English. 

         “Oh, that is interesting,” a voice speaks from behind me.

         In an instant, I drop the broom and look behind me. It’s the woman that I met on the stairs. It appears that she was looking over my shoulder to read the paper.

         “Could you read it to me? I’m illiterate.” 

         She nods to me respectfully. 

         “On the coming Friday, the Princess of Heiwa will visit the Guild and reward three parties or individuals who are working their hardest. Because this event, which is usually held every two months, was canceled last time, a fifty percent bonus will be added to the rewards. The reason the previous event was canceled was that the Princess was on a trip to a nearby city.” 

         “The Princess?” 

         “Yes, Lady Shugosha, the only child of the King. I believe you would like her.”

         “But she’s a princess and I’m just some guy with no money and no property. Plus, I’m sure she’ll have an arranged wedding or something.”

         “No, that is not the case. She has denied previous offers. She believes that she must fall in love before marrying a man.”

         “Umm… What am I supposed to say to that?”

         “You need money, don’t you?” The woman completely changes the subject.

         “Y-yeah,” I shamefully say. 

         “Then you should make an attempt to win the contest! However, you will get nothing by being nothing more than mere custodian!”

         “These people look ready for combat,” I point to the crowds of people beside us. “No thanks.” 

         Her eyelids lower a bit and her tone switches from enthusiastic to glum.

         “I see. If you have a change of mind, then do contact me. I will be around.” She turns around and walks away. 

          I sensed a bit of ulterior, but not malicious, motives. Was she trying to hook me up with the Princess? No, that’s ridiculous. I think it’s more likely that she was saying that just so I have the motivation to improve myself. If not that, then she was probably trying to get me to join the army or something. 

         I pick up the broom off of the ground and continue sweeping. The paper that I picked up is shoved in my pocket. I can feel the gaze of that knight from a nearby table. I pretend not to notice her and clean away. 

         While I’m sweeping up, I notice a girl who looks to be fourteen running around, checking the tables for something. Her purple robes with black accents are flying behind her as she runs frantically. She finds an empty table with plates remaining on its top, then begins to eat the scraps that are left over. The poor girl seems to have an injury on her left eye as it is covered with an eyepatch. 

         I begin to make my way toward her to help, but I’m stopped short by a man sitting at the table beside me. He is a tall, middle-aged man wearing armor. He is accompanied by three other men. 

         “Hey, kid. You gonna take my order?” I don’t like his tone. He sounds like a delinquent. 

         “Sorry, you’ll have to wait for a waitress.” I attempt to flee the scene, but he grabs me by the arm. 

         “You work here, don’t you? Take my damn order already.” 

         “I work here, but not as a waiter. Now if you’ll excuse me-.”

         He stands up and blocks my path.

         “Stupid kid! Why do you have to be so damn lazy?! You’re plaguing this society!”

         “Gah-!” 

         I take a punch to the face. I notice that there are people staring at us. I regain my balance and slowly turn my face back towards him. I stare at him. My gaze is as sharp as shattered glass. He doesn’t seem intimidated at all. 

         I’m not completely defenseless; I have a broom in my hand. I strengthen my grip on it.

         The man throws another punch, but I block it with the broom. As a reaction, he takes it out of my hands and throws it away from me. 

         Crash! He kicks me into the wall which causes me to stumble onto the floor. While I’m down, he grabs me by the collar and readies his fist.

         “I’m gonna teach you a lesson, you-!”

         “Haaaaaah!” 

         Someone, likely the manager, runs up to the man from behind and hits him on the head with the broom. The blow renders him unconscious. I use my remaining energy to look up at whoever it is. 

         To my surprise, it’s the knight from earlier once more. Helps me get up. 

         “Are you able to stand on your own,” she asks.

         “Yeah, I’m fine…”

         She releases me, but I instantly feel dizzy. I must’ve hit my head on the wall. Before I fall, the knight grabs me and supports me. 

         The old man shows up.

         “What the hell is goin’ on back here?” 

         “I-I…”

         “The boy is not at fault,” the knight interrupts me. “He was attacked by that man over there. I believe he is under the influence of alcohol.” 

         “Oh, him? That son of a bitch was always a trouble maker. I’ll give him a suspension.” He picks up the unconscious man and throws him over his shoulder. “Take the kid up to his room. Number twelve.” 

         “Understood.” 

         I glance at the doorway as we head towards the stairs. I see the silhouette of a girl fleeing from view. She was watching me. My state of dizziness disallowed me to make out any of her features, but it was very much a girl. I consider the possibility of an outsider hearing all of the commotion from outside. 

         The stairs creak as we climb them. Several times, the knight glances at me before looking forward again. She doesn’t show any signs of being embarrassed, but she seems very confident in something. 

         “It is locked. You must have the key on you.” 

         “Yeah.” I take the key out of my pocket and unlock the door. 

         I place the key on the table, then the knight helps me lay on the bed. She pulls over a chair and sits. 

         “You were brave down there. You tried to hold your own.”

         “I got beat up.”

         “Maybe, but your expression was that of a warrior.”

         I sigh.

         “This again? What’s your deal? Why don’t you bother anyone else?” 

         “You are young and developing. The way you are now, you will end up starving on the street. To prevent that, you must wake up to your potential. You should become a knight or an adventurer at the very least. I will train you myself if I must.” 

         “If you’re gonna be so persistent… then I’ll consider it. No promises, though.”

         “It’s a big responsibility, I understand. For now, please rest.” 

         The knight approaches the lightbulb on the wall and pulls down some sort of lever. It separates a small crystal from the inside of the bulb which causes the light inside of it to extinguish. How the hell does that work?

         Before I can ask her for her name, she leaves the room. The door closes and leaves me enveloped in darkness. My eyelids shut on their own and I fall asleep. If this is what life is like every day in this city, I don’t think I’m gonna last very long...

  
  



End file.
